November 30, 2002

Hey man! Your race car needs to go on a diet.

Controlling weight distribution on a Winston Cup car has been a consideration for many years now. Around 1997 teams started to understand that the primer, paint, and vinyl decals on their cars hindered the balance and overall weight of the vehicle.

It never started out as a deal in which they woke up one morning to understand this theory. Cutting weight from the car began with items such as bolts that were shortened only to expose one thread beyond an applied hex nut. By suggesting all the ounce by ounce reductions in weight the teams were able to add weight to the lower left frame rail of the car which in turn maintains the lowest possible center of gravity.

Coming to light was information that a paint job for a Winston Cup car weighed in between 18 and 30 pounds. Teams started to reduce the amount of paint on the upper portions of the car in an effort to keep the center of gravity low. There have been new technology advances in the area of vinyl decals which has cut the weight by 10 to 15 pounds.

This weight reduction process is still not fully utilized as per what it could be.

A powder coating process that provided some relief from adverse weight gain started showing up in NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car chassis development. Some NASCAR chassis systems are also powder coated and some are not.

This powder coating process considers a dust type powder which is sprayed from a gun that has an electrical charge. This system allows the powder to have a slight electrical charge and it and will adhere to the desired part in question. After the spraying process, the part is placed into an oven which is heated to 375 degrees. When the very fine dry plastic powder melts it fully covers the piece in question and creates a rock hard finish.

Powder Coating can have positive advantages to any weight reduction program. Paul Morrone of Acme Powder Coating in Port Reading , NJ suggests that upon completing an alcohol drag chassis the overall weight gain from the coating process was 1 ¼ pounds. The only weight gain was the applied dusting of powder which comes in a variety of colors.

Passenger car manufactures have been using powder coating for anti chip coats. Antichip coating is applied to small areas of the car body including wheel wells and rocker panels. PPG has developed a coating process in which the electrodeposition coat and the primer coat are applied in a process that considers the immersing of a negatively charged auto body in a positively charged coating bath. Dodge Dakota trucks manufactured in Brazil see this process.

A clean powder topcoat (clear coat) has also been developed to protect auto bodies. BMW and Volvo are utilizing this process on their new model cars. GM, Ford, and Chrysler have formed a consortium to test this technique on their production lines. In 1993 no cars were coated with a powder primer. In 2000 it is estimated that 1 million cars received powder primer coating.

Is there a way to further bring this technology to Winston Cup racing?

One thing about applying paint to a chassis has always been the fact that the teams could not detect cracking in the metal due to the paint layer. Powder coating makes that inspection process better and the chassis department has gained from powder coating for the most part.

Is it possible to coat an entire racing body with this wonder powder?

It certainly is possible but there are some set backs in the area repair work. It is suggested that making repairs whereas scratches and body damage occur have been complex to say the least. It’s the covering over of an applied area that has been the stumbling point. We seem to believe that it is a matter of time before this concern is fully addressed.

In the days of old you would obtain the services of a sign painter that came to your shop and hand painted your sponsors logo on the car. Vinyl decals replaced that process and even that technology has expanded with the aid of computer design and the like.

Would it be possible to see a powder coated etched type logo applied to the car in the powder coating process that would completely reduce the weight from applied vinyl decals of today? The next time you drink from that soda can look at it closely, it is not painted. That process is a chemical reaction on the aluminum.

Oh yes we realize that we are perhaps decades away from the soda can process but powder coating of racing bodies for weight reduction will happen soon. If a paint job weighs 20 pounds now perhaps in the future it will weigh 2 to 3 pounds. That relief in weight can be used in other areas of the car to aid in balance.

When it comes down to it, it’s the teams that rub on it the most that run up front. It’s just a matter of time before those teams rub that heavy paint off the car bodies and go to powder coating.

You can contact Joe at: Insider Racing News